Guest Columnists

Congress must OK return of money Colorado used to reopen national park

FILE -- National Park Ranger, Karen Dobos, approaches a park goer at the The Fall River Entrance Station at the Rocky Mountain National Park which was closed Tuesday morning, October 01, 2013. (THE DENVER POST | Andy Cross)

WASHINGTON — Interior Department lawyers said Thursday that Congress will have to explicitly authorize reimbursement to states, including Colorado, that decided to re-open national parks during the partial government shutdown.

Parks apparently aren't covered by language in the final bill passed late Thursday and signed by President Barack Obama early Friday that says the feds will reimburse states for costs incurred for running federal programs during the shutdown.

"The funds were donated and we can only reimburse the states if Congress expressly directs us to do so through legislation," said National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst, in a statement. "The continuing resolution does not provide the needed directive."

Last week, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell struck agreements with a handful of governors that allowed shuttered national parks to re-open if states shouldered the costs during the shutdown.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper wired the Interior Department $367,700 Friday so furloughed federal employees at Rocky Mountain National Park could return to work Saturday and Sunday.

The Rocky Mountain National Park area, including the town of Estes Park, was hit particularly hard during the early days of the 16-day government shutdown. The park and businesses in the town were just starting to re-open and rebuild after the devastation of the September floods when the government shutdown closed the park during the fall color peak.

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After Hickenlooper agreed to pay to re-open it, more than 10,000 visitors showed up last weekend.

Governors in South Dakota, Utah, New York and Arizona struck similar agreements with the Interior Department.

The $367,700 payment was the amount of money it costs to run Rocky Mountain National Park for 10 days, according to the National Park Service. Since the partial shutdown ended before those 10 days were up, the state will get some of that money back — about $120,000 and change, officials said.

The U.S. Senate is out for the next week in a recess, but both Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet support pending legislation to get states paid back.

On the House side, Democratic Rep. Jared Polis and Republican Reps. Scott Tipton, Doug Lamborn and Cory Gardner say they are on board with a similar proposal.